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Get Out and Go
Member
Joined: 13 Nov 2004
Posts: 2128 | TRs | Pics
Location: Leavenworth |
Lots of TRs for this destination, including a more challenging loop by jaysway this week.  I had never done this one and my fitness level is off a bit  but I gave it a go anyway for the 12 mile up and back. Fifteen minutes from the house, I was driving by the mouth of Etienne Creek on Hwy 97, knowing that I was only 10 miles or so from the trail, as the crow flies.  It would take me another hour of driving to the TH and then some hiking to be near a previous destination where Hit the Trail, Steve, and I had camped at the head of Etienne Creek in 2014. https://www.nwhikers.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8010791
Just over that ridge lies the head of Etienne Creek.
Anyway, the road condition is great, trail is pleasant, no bugs and no heat (yet), but a very popular trail indeed, for both day hikers and overnighters. I had no gas left in my tank to ramble up Navajo,  but I was happy to have finally visited the area. 
"These are the places you will find me hiding'...These are the places I will always go."
(Down in the Valley by The Head and The Heart)
"Sometimes you're happy. Sometimes you cry.
Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky."
(Thanks, Tom Petty)
 zimmertr, awilsondc, jaysway, Cyclopath, JimK, rubywrangler, HitTheTrail, RichP
"These are the places you will find me hiding'...These are the places I will always go."
(Down in the Valley by The Head and The Heart)
"Sometimes you're happy. Sometimes you cry.
Half of me is ocean. Half of me is sky."
(Thanks, Tom Petty)
zimmertr, awilsondc, jaysway, Cyclopath, JimK, rubywrangler, HitTheTrail, RichP
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HitTheTrail
Member
Joined: 30 Oct 2007
Posts: 5455 | TRs | Pics
Location: 509 |
| Get Out and Go wrote: | | .....hiking to be near a previous destination where Hit the Trail, Steve, and I had camped at the head of Etienne Creek in 2014 |
I remember you mentioning that destination when we hiked our route into Etienne Creek. Glad you finally made it over there.
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Sculpin
Member
Joined: 23 Apr 2015
Posts: 1384 | TRs | Pics
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Sculpin
Member
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 Sun Jun 26, 2022 9:41 am |
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My group crossed over the saddle shown in the image in the second week of July last year. My half-written TR seems to have died, so I thought I would offer some route beta here.
The hike up to the saddle is easy, Class 2 with the steepest part being right above the trail. You need to head up before crossing Stafford Creek, which actually originates in a fissure up on this slope and not up by Navaho Pass. If you cross the creek and start up, you will get turned around by the fissure, it is 10+ feet of vertical/overhung dirt on both sides.
Once over the saddle, it is easy plunge-stepping down meadows to Etienne Creek. In early season there will be snow but you can most likely still do it safely without self-arrest gear by staying in the trees to skier's right.
At the bottom, there will be a pour-off upstream and 100 yards of wicked slide alder dead ahead. Don't despair! In between is a short stretch of V-shaped dirt gully that is an easy scramble across with only a few feet of slide alder. Once across, it is a 200' climb in steep meadow up to the open camping area above. Water is available just upstream. You could bivouac a regiment here.
The Etienne Creek trail bysects the flat camping area, but it is not visible there (this is where the Green Trails says "hard to follow"). No problem. It is easy to see by walking a few hundred feet upstream. The same goes for downstream, just wander down meadows until you see it.
I'm happy to report that the officially abandoned Etienne Creek trail is in excellent shape and has seen regular (stealth?) maintenance, with a couple fresh deadfall cuts that were still fragrant. The trail disappears again less than 1/4 mile from the abandoned road that comes up the Etienne valley. When the trail peters out, just head downhill a short stretch in a band of meadow. You will soon be able to see some faint tread in a brushed-out corridor that crosses a tiny creek and then the road will be right in front of you. If you are coming from the road and hoping to find the trail...that is going to be a lot more difficult.
The Gold Creek Trail is easy to find, also in excellent shape, and receiving maintenance. A couple folks on motorcycles had just been there and brushed it out, the cut green brush was still wilting the day we were there. I scanned around for mining remnants but saw nothing at all. I even left the trail a couple times to explore what I thought might be tailings, but they were not. Has anyone found any mining remnants in the Gold Creek drainage? There are plenty of claim boundary markers though.
In a normal year, peak flowers are the first week of July. This year, that date will be more like July 15. At the risk of sounding hyerbolic, the botany around the headwaters of Etienne Creek is world class and unsurpassed in this state in terms of diversity and the number of rarities. In particular, watch for hybrid columbine in there, they are very rare and each plant has a unique flower color.
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
jditty, Boots, jaysway, SpookyKite89, Get Out and Go
Between every two pines is a doorway to the new world. - John Muir
jditty, Boots, jaysway, SpookyKite89, Get Out and Go
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Boots
Gone Kayaking
Joined: 22 Aug 2005
Posts: 632 | TRs | Pics
Location: Buffalo County Nebraska |
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Boots
Gone Kayaking
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Mon Jul 04, 2022 7:04 am |
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Such beautiful country over there. Very nice pics!
"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold."
-Helen Keller
"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold."
-Helen Keller
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